Though she would spend most of her youth in New York, Jennifer Aniston was born Jennifer Joanna Aniston in Sherman Oaks, California, on February 11, 1969. She spent one year of her childhood at the age of 5 in Greece, the country where her father is from. Well connected to the business from the beginning – her father is veteran Days of Our Lives star John Aniston; her godfather is none other than Telly Savalas – Jennifer did not discover her own penchant for acting until attending the Rudolf Steiner School drama club at 11.Jennifer Aniston as a teenagerAniston proved to be a talented painter during her stay at the Rudolf Steiner School (one of her pieces was displayed at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art), but acting became her primary focus after graduating from New York’s prestigious High School for the Performing Arts in 1987, and she held roles in off-Broadway productions such as For Dear Life and Dancing on Checker’s Grave.

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston Hairstyles

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston with Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty - 2003Though Friends launched Aniston’s career as a sitcom actress, her television debut was in 1989, when she starred in 1990's short-lived series Molloy. Before long, Jennifer’s television resume had grown to include appearances in The Edge, a role in the ultimately unsuccessful attempt at adapting Ferris Bueller’s Day Off into sitcom format, and a part in an episode of Quantum Leap. In 1991, she landed a recurring role on Herman’s Head, while 1994 led her to a role in Muddling Through, the show that almost kept her from starring in Friends.Jennifer Aniston and "The Rachel" around 1994By 1994, it looked like Aniston was destined for a life of obscure parts in doomed television sitcoms. Despite being asked to audition for the role of Monica Gellar in a pilot for a sitcom at that point titled “Friends Like These” (a role that would eventually be filled by Courteney Cox), Aniston insisted on trying out for the part of Rachel Green, a spoiled suburbanite turned spunky coffee house waitress. The rest, as they say, is history — “Friends Like These” would become the mega-hit Friends.